A home smolders on Mount Whitney Road in Escondido as the Cocos fire continues to burn.
(Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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Jeff Brown looks over the smoldering ruins of his grandmother’s home on Mount Whitney Road in Escondido.
(Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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Calvary Assembly Church on Cedar Street in downtown Escondido is engulfed in flames. Crews battling wildfires in the area saw their resources stretched further by the church fire.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

A home goes up in flames along Country Club Drive in Escondido.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

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James Harkins, 72, uses a garden hose to fight flames racing up a hillside toward his home in San Marcos. Harkins, who refused to evacuate, said he didn’t want to let his house burn. “No, no, no,” he said. “Not without a fight.”
(Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

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Robert and Sophie Payne, left, and son Bronson visit their home destroyed in wildfire on Black Rail Road in Carlsbad.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

An airplane makes a fire retardant drop on a burning hill near in a fire that burned nearly 2,000 acres in northern San Diego County in May 2014. A 14-year-old girl convicted of starting the fire was sentenced Wednesday to 400 hours of community service.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Sophie Payne walks past what is left of her home on Black Rail Road after it was destroyed in the Poinsettia wildfire on May 14, 2014 in Carlsbad, Calif.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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A firefighting helicopter drops water on a commercial building engulfed in flames.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

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A heavy plume of smoke fills the sky as fire burns around San Marcos.
(Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

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Sophie Payne,left, and her daughter Anya Bannasch react as the family dog Rocky is found in the ruble of her burned home on Black Rail Road in the Carlsbad area.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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Flames surround a large hilltop home near Cal State San Marcos that caught fire.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Bronson Payne carries his dog, Rocky, to safety as his sister, Anya Bannasch, watches. Rocky was found hiding in the back of his burned home on Black Rail Road after it was destroyed in the Poinsettia wildfire on Wednesday in Carlsbad. An industrial blaze sparked by the wildfire burns in the background.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

San Diego County sheriff’s deputies monitor traffic in San Marcos as a wildfire burns along the hillsides on Wednesday. Multiple fires across Southern California damaged or destroyed more than a dozen homes.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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A wildfire burns along the hillsides on Wednesday in San Marcos.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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An airplane makes a fire retardant drop around a large Coronado Hills home in the San Marcos area.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

A new wildfire in San Diego County forced the evacuation of Cal State San Marcos on Wednesday as crews battled a series of other blazes that had taxed firefighting resources to the point that officials declared a local emergency.

The university, which has an enrollment of more than 10,000 students, was in the middle of administering spring finals when the fire in the hills south of the campus advanced closer and the evacuation order was issued.

Dubbed the Twin Oaks fire, the blaze quickly spread to 20 acres near Lake Hodges, prompting evacuation orders for North San Elijo, Discovery and Coronado Hills.

In Carlsbad, where 22 housing structures were destroyed by the wind-driven Poinsettia fire, the number of evacuation orders increased to 15,000.

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Several other fires, including in Fallbrook, Camp Pendleton and Rancho Bernardo, prompted their own evacuations as agencies from other jurisdictions sent resources to aid in the fight.

The burden on local firefighting resources prompted San Diego County to declare an emergency and call on Gov. Jerry Brown to free up greater access to assistance.

San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore said his agency was coordinating with the military to help battle fires in Carlsbad and Fallbrook, adding that about 120 deputies were helping fight fires.

Evacuations were also in effect for a wildfires in Bonsall, and fires were also being fanned in Oceanside and Escondido on Wednesday afternoon.

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Elsewhere, crews were also fighting fires in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.

More than 100 firefighters responded to a brush fire that broke out at 1:13 p.m. in an agricultural area west of Santa Paula, forcing the temporary closure of California 126 between Peck and Wells roads.

A mobile home park in Anaheim was also briefly evacuated due to a nearby brush fire that closed the 91 Freeway in both directions.

“It’s just unfortunately a recipe for a large fire and that’s what we’re seeing right now,” Cal Fire Capt. Mike Mohler, speaking about the Poinsettia fire, told local television reporters.

The Poinsettia fire, he added, uncontained Wednesday afternoon, adding that it was a “very dynamic situation. Very dangerous situation.”

Thick, dark plumes of smoke cut visibility to the point where people were driving with their headlights on. At a gas station on Palomar Airport Road, there were dozens of other drivers waiting in line to fuel up and evacuate, witness Ryan Marble said, adding that it took nearly 20 minutes just to reach the pump.

Marble described seeing the fire roar up a hillside behind Poinsettia Elementary School as several homes burned at the top of that ridge.

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“At times it looks like there’s fire in the sky with the wind whipping back and forth,” he said.